著者

鈴木 幹也

出版者

日本西洋古典学会

雑誌

西洋古典学研究 (ISSN:04479114)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.25, pp.20-31, 1977

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Aristotle attempted to reduce the thought structure of Empedocles' On Nature to his own unique philosophical pattern by interpreting Empedocles' four indestructible elements as being the material causes, and interpreting Love and Strife as the efficient causes. Judging from Theophrastus' Physical Opinions, Frag. 3, the basis for Aristotle's reasoning is thought to be contained in the couplet of Empedocles' Frag. 17. 7-8; αλλοτε μεν φιλοτητι συνερχομεν ει&b.sigmav; απαντα αλλοτε δ' αυ διχ' εκαστα φορευμενα νεικεο&b.sigmav; εχθει and particularly in the participle φορευμενα found in the latter half. In other words, Aristotle interpreted (φορευμενα to be a passive voice, from which he deduced his understanding of the four elements as being the material causes, and Love and Strife as the efficient causes. The present writer, however, cannot agree to such an interpretation of φορευμενα. The writer here attempts to reject one of the traditional viewpoints in the history of philosophy-the Aristotelian schematic understanding of Empedocles-by elucidating that the φορευμενα in question is not a passive voice but rather a direct reflexive intransitive middle voice, through the examination of three points, namely: (1)other groups of expression illustrating the spatial movement of the four elements; (2)similar verses in Empedocles Frag. 20. 2-5; and(3)usage of the verb φερω which has the same etymological origin as φορεω.